Associated Press

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -Alexandre Burrows pointed the Vancouver Canucks in the right direction and they followed his lead en route with a rare offensive outburst.

Burrows sparked a four-goal first period with a short-handed goal 37 seconds into the game, and the Canucks beat the Nashville Predators 6-2 Thursday night.

Alexander Edler, Matt Pettinger and Kevin Bieksa also scored in the opening period as Vancouver moved into a tie with Nashville for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.

"It was important [his early shorthanded marker] to get us going a little bit, get the fans into it a little bit and right afterwards we got another big power-play goal, so it got us going the right direction and we kept it going for 60 minutes, Burrows said. "It was nice to get one off the get go, get our confidence going."

Mason Raymond scored 1:33 into the second, and Ryan Shannon added a power-play goal with nine minutes left for the Canucks, who rank 26th in the NHL in scoring, and scored six goals for just the second time this season.

Vernon Fiddler and Greg de Vries scored for the Predators, who had a two-game winning streak snapped to fall to 2-2-0 on a season-long six-game road trip.

"We got it handed to us tonight," de Vries said. "That's not the way we play, especially against these guys."

The Predators gave up 24 shots in the opening period, a season-high for a Canucks team that managed just six goals during a four-game winless slide (0-2-2).

They came out flying against Nashville, even after taking an early penalty.

With Henrik Sedin in the box for holding, Burrows won a race for a loose puck and snapped a sharp angle shot over Dan Ellis s glove. Edler put home a 5-on-3 point shot to make it 2-0 at 4:11, but captain Markus Naslund gave the puck away at his blue line on the second power play, and Fiddler walked in alone and beat Roberto Luongo for a short-handed goal 14 seconds later.

Less then two minutes later, Pettinger jammed in a loose puck, and Chris Mason took over the Nashville net. He barely had time to warm up before de Vries - after another Naslund turnover - answered the Canucks goal 12 seconds later.

The Canucks went up by two again when Mason was beaten cleanly through the legs by Bieksa with 1:57 left after some nice passing by Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

"We were a desperate team, we came out and generated lots, got pucks at the net and finally got an offensive output," said Naslund. "I think that will help a lot of guys get the confidence back."

It was the fourth time in the last 10 games the Predators pulled their starting goalie.

"Usually I'm the one getting pulled," said Mason, who made 30 saves after Ellis stopped eight of 11. "They were all over us. I don't know if we showed up for the magnitude of the game."

The Canucks out-skated, out-hustled, and out-worked the visiting Predators in an affair that featured a productive Vancouver powerplay and a relentlessly strong forecheck. The Canucks were only two for five on the powerplay but demonstrated some precision passing, continual cycling, and elongated possession.

“I think we moved the puck well tonight [on the powerplay],” said special tams quarter-back Henrik Sedin. “They pressured a lot and if you don’t move the puck they’re going to be on you right away; tonight we did a great job with that.”

Vancouver built upon their moral victory in Colorado, and came tonight prepared with a lot of energy and attention to every on-ice responsibility.

3 STARS

Daniel Sedin
Set up three of Vancouver’s goals finishing the game with 3 assists and 8 shots.

Sami Salo
Recorded 3 assists and posted a plus-3 rating as a catalyst of the Canucks powerplay.

Mason RaymondScored a big insurance goal 1:33 into the second period to seal the Canuck victory.

“It was a good team game. The defense played well but it’s always easier to play well defensively when your forwards are really responsible down low and back checking hard; allowing us to do our job on their top players,” ,” said veteran defenceman Willie Mitchell. “We beat them to pucks and we were half a step ahead all night. Give credit to our forwards who generated a really good forecheck and didn’t give them much time out there, and because of that we spent a lot less time in our defensive zone and did not really have to much trouble back there.”

Luongo made 21 stops for Vancouver, but his job may get tougher as the Canucks run out of defenseman. After finding out earlier in the day they'd be without Mattias Ohlund at least a week, Vancouver lost Aaron Miller after he was leveled by Jordin Tootoo with 1:32 left to play.

There was no immediate word on Miller's condition. He went right to the locker room with his right shoulder hanging. But there was plenty of fallout from the hit, including an instigator penalty in the final minute for Bieksa for starting a fight with Fiddler because he thought the forward shot a puck at him. The penalty comes with an automatic, but reviewable, one-game suspension.

"I m just trying to get the game over with, it's 6-2," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said of Tootoo's hit. "I don't know why things like that happen and why a player would run 100 feet with the game over. No respect for the game and no respect for the opposition."

Predators coach Barry Trotz said it was a clean hit. Tootoo, who received a five-minute major penalty for boarding, agreed.

"Hitting is part of the game and you've got to be a man to play this game and you have to keep your head up," Tootoo said. "Clean hit, nothing else to say. They're the ones that should get the extra penalties."

Notes: Ohlund will miss at least four to six days because of bone chips in his left knee that may yet require season-ending surgery. ... Predators linemates Jason Arnott and Jean-Pierre Dumont had six-game point streaks snapped.